Tests convince volunteers that they have swapped bodies with another person
Researchers in Sweden have been conducting test aimed at exploring the way that human beings perceive their own bodies. These tests were conducted by way of a series of experiments, first with a life-sized mannequin and then another human subject, with a closed circuit camera being used to convey the impression to the volunteer that they were looking at their own body rather than a surrogate.
The researchers managed to successfully convince their test subjects that first the dummy was their body, by touching the hidden body parts of the subject at the same time as the fake. The fake was presented to the subject by way of dual cameras mounted where a human being’s eyes are, reproducing stereoscopic vision.
The researchers claim that the illusion is so effective that their volunteers were able to shake hands with their own biological body, believing it to be another person. They have essentially created an out-of-body experience of sorts in laboratory conditions, an event that they believe could help treat phantom limb syndrome as well as provide further insight to human perception.
The researchers discovered some limitations however; they could only reproduce these results with the dummy or human surrogate. Attempts to convince subjects that they were a cardboard box failed.
Brett Venter
